In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
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Opinion
Facing the Delta variant, my congregants are lonely and afraid. We are making hard choices together
As a rabbi, I want to do the right thing for my congregation. But what is the right thing? I am the spiritual leader of a small synagogue in Sarasota, Fla. My congregation is older, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially devastating to them. The unexpected isolation was bad enough, but when it continued…
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Opinion ‘I never forgot and I never again felt as safe’ — readers share the most antisemitic things that ever happened to them
There were dozens of stories — dozens! — of being called a dirty Jew or a Christ-killer, mostly in the tender days of elementary school. Many reported being asked about their horns — not in a joking way. Even more recalled someone bragging about having “Jewed down” an opponent in negotiations. Ten days ago, I…
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Opinion Watching Team Israel’s Olympic run — and loss — taught me about Jewish resilience
In 2017, I was a high school junior who usually struggled to wake up on time for school. And yet, at 5:30 am one morning in early March, I sat wide-eyed on my family room couch, watching a baseball game. It was the opening game of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, the foremost international baseball…
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Opinion To fight antisemitism, you need to clearly define it
With the appointment of Professor Deborah Lipstadt as the new Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, attention will focus on the Biden Administration’s plans to confront the persistent scourge of antisemitism which has increased in the wake of the COVID pandemic and the recent conflict. She will have an enormous task taking on the…
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Opinion Most user reports of antisemitism are ignored. We must hold platforms accountable
It’s rare to be able to put a number on corporate tolerance of hate speech. But in a recent experiment, we were able to do so — and the results are chilling. During six weeks this summer, we flagged and reported hundreds of egregious posts containing antisemitism to social media platforms using their own user…
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Opinion Jewish teen groups are rife with toxic sexual culture. It’s on us to fix that.
As someone long involved with Jewish youth groups, Shira Wolkenfeld’s recent “New Voices” investigation on the toxic sexual culture that exists within many of them was difficult to read. In the extensive article, Wolkenfeld documents incidents of groping during convention Shabbat dinners, over-sexualization, pressures to hookup and sexual assault. I struggled to reconcile this portrait…
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Opinion Appreciation: Bob Moses repaired the world, through quiet activism — and math.
This article is not about Bob Moses. By that I mean it’s a tribute to a man who insisted that his lifelong efforts to repair the world didn’t always have to be about him. What’s remarkable is that he did repair much of it — in a career dedicated to securing full citizenship rights and…
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Opinion Biden’s pick for antisemitism envoy will need to answer these tough questions
Sometime soon, President Biden will likely nominate a candidate for the Department of State’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. Regardless of who is selected, the envoy-designee will be asked at their confirmation hearing what they think of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by many governments,…
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Letters Letter | Of course, Kosher certification is political
Editor: I adamantly disagree with Dani Klein’s recent op-ed in these pages, “Kosher certification should not be a political weapon.” Yes, of course, rabbis and other Kashrut inspectors should be concerned about ingredients, but why should food companies that hurt our fellow Jews receive certification? The vast majority of those whom observe the laws of…
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Opinion Kosher certification should not be a political weapon
The recent uproar over Ben & Jerry’s’ decision to stop sales of its products in the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria has many in the Jewish community enraged — along with the board of Ben & Jerry’s’ parent company, Unilever — and rightfully so. This blatant targeting of Israel and Jews is nothing new,…
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Opinion Some feel trapped in ultra-Orthodoxy. Why don’t we help when they try to leave?
Love or hate Julia Haart, the star of the Netflix reality show “My Unorthodox Life,” you have to admit that she has focused our attention on a very serious issue: you can’t leave the ultra-Orthodox world easily. Haart, relying on her secular education and business savvy, managed to propel her family into a Manhattan penthouse…
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News Joe Kent, Trump official with white supremacist ties, resigns over Iran war and blames Israel
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